A reference guide to Hungarian grammar, designed with English-speakers in mind

Telling the time in Hungarian

Time in Hungarian is quite complicated and it's easy to be one hour off. The biggest difference is that when using such expression
as "quarter (past)", "half (past)", etc, they always look forward to the coming hour, never back at the hour just passed.

This means that 5:15, which we would describe as "quarter past five", they would describe as negyed hat (óra): "six quarter", "a quarter
into the sixth hour" or maybe even "a quarter past in the sixth hour".

Similarly:
9:30 is
fél tíz half into the tenth hour10:45 is
háromnegyed tizenegy three quarters into the eleventh hour

Minutes passed - múlt

Minutes to - mulva

This is expessed with a rather difficult concept of
mulva,
which may be translated as "having passed"
(mulik to pass, see [present participle]).
This is put into the context of "x minutes having passed, it will be y"

Quarter hours

Times may be express as minutes to or passed the quarter hour
háromnegyed tizenegy múlt öt perccel: 10:50 three quarters into the
eleventh hour passed with five minutes; five minutes passed ten-fourty-five

Some examples and exercises

Here are some examples. Cover up the right two columns with your hand and try to work out the times. The right most column is a literal
explanation. (Hungarian text borrowed from [magyarora.com], explanations added by DC.)

két óra múlt öt perccel

2:05

two hours passed with five minutes

negyed négy lesz 10 perc múlva

3:05

quarter into the fourth hour will be 10 minutes having passed

fél tíz

9:30

half into in the tenth hour

háromnegyed hat múlt öt perccel

5:50

three quarters into the sixth hour passed with five minutes

két perc múlva nyolc

7:58

two minutes having passed will be 8 o'clock

öt óra negyven perc

5:40

five o'clock forty minutes

fél három múlt 8 perccel

2:38

half into the third hour passed with eight minutes

háromnegyed kilenc lesz hét perc múlva

8:38

three quarters passed in the ninth hour will be seven minutes having passed

negyed egy

12:15

quarter passed in the first hour

dél

12:00

nappalnoon

fél hét lesz három perc múlva

6:27

half into the seventh hour it will be, three minutes having passed

öt perc múlva kilenc

8:55

five minutes having passed it will be eight

fél kettő

1:30

half into the first hour

hét óra tíz perc

7:10

seven hours ten minutes

háromnegyed tizenegy múlt öt perccel

10:50

three quarters into the eleventh hour passed with five minutes

tizenkét óra múlt tizenkét perccel

12:12

twelve o'clock passed with twelve minutes

tíz perc múlva fél nyolc

7:20

ten minutes having passed it will be half into the eighth hour

éjfél

00:00

éjszakahalf night

negyed nyolc

7:15

quarter into the eighth hour

öt perc múlva egy

12:55

five minutes having passed it will be one o'clock

Links

See the magyarora.com page (pdf): [http://www.magyarora.com/topics/hany_ora_van.pdf]